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b'HOLLISTER RAND was a young child when she first realized she could see and talk with dead people. Frightened and feeling freakish, Hollister kept her unusual talent a secret until she was nearly killed at the age of 18. Today, she fully embraces her life as a medium and finds great purpose in helping people connect with their loved ones in spirit. (46:31) EXPLICIT \\xa0\\xa0 EPISODE NOTES: Ask me what my oddest TV job was and I won\\u2019t hesitate: line producer on the Psychic Friends Network infomercials. Hosted by singer Dionne Warwick, the talk show-like program hawked a 900-number to call for a live $3.99-per-minute psychic reading over the phone. As part of my job, I once auditioned a dozen psychics who read me back-to-back. Although the task was to see how each of them looked and sounded giving a reading on camera, I saw it as an opportunity to put the concept of psychic ability to the test. And while I did find a couple of people who were suitable for an appearance on PFN, I didn\\u2019t experience anything that I felt was authentically transcendental with any of these folks. My skepticism about all things metaphysical continued unchallenged for another 20 years until I met HOLLISTER RAND \\u2013 a world-renowned medium and author of "I\\u2019m Not Dead, I\\u2019m Different." Hollister tells me that she didn\\u2019t mind the barrage of questions I peppered her with as soon as we were introduced: \\u201cI like people who are curious about what I do. Mostly because I had the same kind of questions.\\u201d Hollister discovered she had the ability to see and talk with the dead when her deceased grandfather appeared at the foot of her bed. She was just five years old. Soon after, spirits she didn\\u2019t know or recognize began visiting her at night: \\u201cI was so terrified because I had no control over what was showing up. Can you imagine waking up and you\\u2019ve got strangers in your bedroom?\\u201d After sharing her experiences with family members and friends, Hollister quickly realized that not everyone was open to visits from the dead \\u2013 and many were afraid to even discuss the subject. Consequently, she decided to stop talking about her nighttime visits: \\u201cI realized there\\u2019s something very different about me. I did not like that at all. I mean, what kid wants to be different?\\u201d Hollister did her best to ignore her sixth sense and managed to keep it a secret until she was nearly killed in a car accident at the age of 18. After that near-death experience, there was no denying her ability to communicate with spirits any longer. Today, Hollister fully embraces her work as a medium and finds great purpose in helping people connect with loved ones whose earthly lives have ended. I have attended several of her spirit circles (a modernized version of an old-fashioned s\\xe9ance) and have witnessed some truly extraordinary things. The specificity with which Hollister describes the spirits who show up for the people in the room is absolutely remarkable. The astonished reactions I\\u2019ve seen from the \\u201csitters\\u201d speak volumes. How could she possibly know the kind of details she does unless she is truly making contact with a dimension that\\u2019s imperceivable to me and most other people? As for doubters, Hollister spends no time whatsoever defending or debating the veracity of mediumship: \\u201cI don\\u2019t see myself out there trying to convince anybody. I see myself as someone who is here if someone wants the healing that this brings. People will come to it or they won\\u2019t.\\u201d So, then, where does this put me? Well, I remain agnostic on the subject \\u2013 I neither believe nor disbelieve. But having seen her in action in several small groups and large events, and having had a number of long conversations with her about what I\\u2019ve observed, I can say with certitude that if it is, in fact, possible to communicate with the dead, Hollister Rand is the real deal. BP \\xa0 Many thanks\\xa0to the composers of the music featured in this episode royalty free through Creative Commons licensing: 1. "Love Wins" by Lee Rosevere - leerosevere.bandcamp.com 2. "Curiosity" by Lee Rosevere - leerosevere.bandcamp.com 3. "Just Watching" by Podington Bear - soundofpicture.com'